TONY KHAN STINKS! ("WBD OWNS A PERCENTAGE OF AEW." - DAVE MELTZER; RICKY STARKS HOSTAGE TIL SUMMER 2025; DYNAMITE NO MILLION WATCH: 638 DAYS/91 WEEKS)

[Instant Classic]

Something needs to change. Right now ROH is just Collision with handshakes and less fans.
No.
It's worse than that.

Lowkey it's not that far removed from the b*stardization that was WWECW, compared to it's legacy

• Sure, some of the original people are still there. But it's almost none of the actual stars from the original
• The ones that are there are older, moving slower, and really just there to get the shyt they originally did back over.
• The new people putting in work there aren't being showcased enough to have it make any impact on the bigger show they're in the shadow of. And it'll only be when they get drafted into the 'main' of their company that anyone will give a shyt.
• Their titles treated as C-tier anywhere but their own TV
• When they show up interpromotion with the 'main rosters', it's never with video packages or showcases. It's 'WHO?!'
• They have their top champion in random matches losing to guys they're trying to build to the 'main roster' main event.

It's WWECW status brehs

ROH should be their NXT and not an extension of AEW

List of things they need to do to improve ROH
- Stop having ROH titles shown on AEW shows
- Limit how many AEW talent can show up in ROH
- ROH should be used for development to get guys ready for AEW. A person like Nick Wayne has no business being shown on AEW TV and should be putting in work in ROH before he gets called up
- There's a bunch of talent in AEW I feel that are lost in the shuffle and should be in ROH to get some seasoning.
- ROH should be a brand for them to scoop up indie talent and develop them
- Film ROH in a studio and only travel for PPVs when they feel they're ready for the road
- At the moment ROH feels too much of an extension of AEW and an afterthrough because AEW has too many shows imo. Also, in no situation should this be the current state of ROH champions. This is mainly talent that are featured on main AEW show and devalues ROH titles because they feel like props.

 

[Easy-E]

Nah man people caught falling asleep now?

At what point...

...do they not understand the concept of "seat fillers"?

I went to RAW, here, and I was on the hard cam side AND THERE STILL WERE SEAT FILLERS. It was this little kids sitting next to me making sure someone was in all the empty seats.

Move ppl down and put them together

Middle school teachers understand that concept

I want AEW to win, but, they their worst enemy

 

[Lucha Vandross]

And they say Tony Khan buying ROH was a waste of money! #bookeroftheyear

My nikka Marty byke?

 

[AMcV'88]

wild that nobody had pointed this out yet

 

[Novembruh]

they have Christian playing an older gay man in a turtle neck cruising for and harassing young men and people think its good. bizarre and sinister stuff

I swear I said it in one of the live threads - Christian just be snatching up whatever new twink-looking talent that pops up and using their daddy issues to get them under his thumb
Mans a whole-ass predator
"oh you lacking a father figure? Let me guide you. Mold you."

Christian Cage's gimmick being 'Roving predatory freelance step-pops' in 2023 is some mad-lib, pulling gimmicks out a hat insanity.

And somehow the best gimmick in the company at the same time

What IS AEW, brehs? Like... objectively.
Their singles champions:

• Man whose whole career has been 'scumbag' is now babyface in anti-semitic feud over diamond ring with bug-eyed gremlin, while a skinny man wears his belt
• aforementioned aggro step-father
• woman who cannot cut promos having 15 minute matches that completely evaporate from your memory the second the bell rings
• Orange Cassidy
• Orange Cassidy: Girl

Khan... What's happening here? Like, sure Roman don't never defend his title, but at least his character makes sense when he doesn't and his matches generally hit when he does.

Ilya Dragonuv has spent more time holding the NXT title than MJF has spent holding the AEW title in the last month. Why? Who is this serving?

 

[Flex Luger]

Dave Meltzer on Tony Khan's "dream match" on Collision: "You keep doing this all the time and it's the boy who cried wolf. And I have heard that analogy a dozen times this weekend from people when they heard the Bryan Danielson/Andrade match. It's not something people have dreamed of at that level"

From yesterday's Wrestling Observer Radio, during the reviews of Collision and Battle of the Belts:

* Bryan Alvarez starts off by saying that he can't say he'd ever dreamed of Bryan Danielson vs. Andrade but it was very good.

* Dave agrees it was really good but says he has to make this point. He outlines the strategy of Tony Khan announcing that he will announce a dream match for Collision on the Rampage show on Friday. Dave said that his reaction when he saw that tweet was "this better be good" and he didn't think the announcement lived up to that. He said that Tony Khan already gets criticized for the "Big Announcement! Big Announcement!" strategy of promoting. He says they are doing it again for Dynamite on Wednesday with Tony's "big surprise gift for Sting". Dave says, you keep doing that and it's the boy who cried wolf.

 

[StatUS]

wild that nobody had pointed this out yet

Because who thinks like that unless

 

[Rollie Forbes]

GCW owner Brett Lauderdale says that he’s in the dark as to what AEW’s policy is regarding talent working indie shows. AEW stars used to appear with regularity on GCW shows, but that has slowed down since Jon Moxley signed a new contract with AEW. Lauderdale said in an interview on The Business of the Business that he’s not certain what AEW’s official policy is.

“As far as AEW talent goes, and AEW’s policy, I still to this day don’t know what it is,” Lauderdale said (per Fightful). “It seems to be ever changing, but also it never changes. So I think everybody’s still literally on a case-by-case basis. There are certain talent in AEW that can kind of call their shots and do what they want, and there are others that aren’t in a position to do that. I guess some people have to ask for permission, some people don’t, some people are supposed to but don’t, and then do it anyways. I don’t know. The policy…I just don’t know.”

He continued, “Nobody from AEW has ever said anything to me. So it’s the same deal for us. We know what we hear, but we hear something one day, and then the next day it’s another deal. So I really don’t know and I can’t speak on that because everybody that’s tried to speak on this in the past has been wrong. I know that DEFY has a certain special relationship with AEW, and there’s reasons behind that. But I do know, it does seem like there’s been a slight tempering down in the number of AEW talent out there, but then at the same time, I’m seeing new guys making the rounds, big names. So again, who knows? I don’t know what the deal is.”

 

[Easy-E]

Khan... What's happening here? Like, sure Roman don't never defend his title, but at least his character makes sense when he doesn't and his matches generally hit when he does.

Ilya Dragonuv has spent more time holding the NXT title than MJF has spent holding the AEW title in the last month. Why? Who is this serving?

And while Athena burns in ROH (that no one watches)...they bout to put over Skye Blue nonverbal, weak ass (pun intended)

 

[NYChase718]

Dave Meltzer on Tony Khan's "dream match" on Collision: "You keep doing this all the time and it's the boy who cried wolf. And I have heard that analogy a dozen times this weekend from people when they heard the Bryan Danielson/Andrade match. It's not something people have dreamed of at that level"

From yesterday's Wrestling Observer Radio, during the reviews of Collision and Battle of the Belts:

* Bryan Alvarez starts off by saying that he can't say he'd ever dreamed of Bryan Danielson vs. Andrade but it was very good.

* Dave agrees it was really good but says he has to make this point. He outlines the strategy of Tony Khan announcing that he will announce a dream match for Collision on the Rampage show on Friday. Dave said that his reaction when he saw that tweet was "this better be good" and he didn't think the announcement lived up to that. He said that Tony Khan already gets criticized for the "Big Announcement! Big Announcement!" strategy of promoting. He says they are doing it again for Dynamite on Wednesday with Tony's "big surprise gift for Sting". Dave says, you keep doing that and it's the boy who cried wolf.

Tony khan aka the boy cried wolf

 

[El Cocodrilo]

tbh AEW is boring now and ive been meaning to switch back to WWE but i keep forgetting to set my DVR

 

[Rollie Forbes]

they have Christian playing an older gay man in a turtle neck cruising for and harassing young men and people think its good. bizarre and sinister stuff

WWE missing out on Jay White might be a blessing in disguise

Except for the turtleneck, that's also Don Callis's gimmick. Dirty Don groomed Miss Kenny since he/she/they was a little boy, and now Takeshyta is getting the same treatment (when's the last time you've seen Take wear a shirt around Callis?).
Don't get me started on Sammy "Little Pants" Guevara. I shudder to think what Callis is making that petitle, hairless, exotical do to earn his keep.
My only hope is that Callis doesn't try to make Bro. Will Hobbs do something strange for a little piece of change. I'd hate for my man Powerhouse to get those Terry Crews allegations put on him.

 

[Toe Jay Simpson]

At this point

WWECW = AEW’s ROH

 

[Finn Baller]

At this point

WWECW = AEW’s ROH

At least that had a show on cable TV. ROH is such a worthless brand that WBD said not only are we not giving it a spot on TV, we want it off AEW programming as well

 

[Rollie Forbes]

At least that had a show on cable TV. ROH is such a worthless brand that WBD said not only are we not giving it a spot on TV, we want it off AEW programming as well

Do you think there's a way that Tony could salvage the ROH brand?